The Safeway Classic is the closest thing I have these days to a hometown golf tournament, now that the Safeco Classic has gone to that tournament pasture in the sky (does that even make sense?). I have attended it each year since 1999 (except, of course, in 2001, when it was canceled due to the tragedies of 9/11), and watched as the Seoul Sisters slowly but surely became a more and more important factor in women's golf. In 2000, it reached its apex, when Mi Hyun Kim and Jeong Jang, two close friends, ended up slugging it out in a playoff for the title. It didn't need to be that way; with just two holes to go, Peanut had a two shot lead over Jang, and looked to be in cruise control. But that was before one disastrous swing on the 17th hole (a tee shot that perhaps would have benefited from a careful lay up rather than a full on driver). The ball trickled into the hazard, and just a few minutes later, Mi Hyun had a triple bogey on her scorecard, and went from a two shot lead to a one shot deficit. On 18, it was must birdie time, and she responded by putting her iron to within about 15 feet, then nailing a clutch birdie, perhaps the greatest single putt of her LPGA career. Just a little later, she parred the playoff hole while Jang bogeyed, and Mi Hyun collected her 3rd career victory.

Mi Hyun gives a victory wave following her
win at the 2000 Safeway

Grace comes off the range at the 2002 Safeway Classic
SeoulSisters.com photo

2002 would mark the first time that Seoul Sisters.com covered the Safeway Classic, albeit in an unofficial capacity. It was an enjoyable time, but a bit of a letdown because her schedule had prevented Se Ri Pak from attending. Most of the rest of the top Korean players, including Mi Hyun Kim - the defending champion - and Grace Park were there. In the end, none of them managed to contend for the title, although they still put on their usual good show.

Which brings us to 2003. This year the tournament was held during a blazing stretch of Indian Summer at the end of September. Not only were temperatures constantly in the 70s to as high as mid-90s, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky all week. Highly unusual for this time of year in the Pacific Northwest. I arrived Tuesday evening, but with only a block to go to my hotel, my car broke down in the middle of a busy street. Fortunately I was able to get a helpful passerby to assist me in getting it to the side of the road. I got the car towed to a nearby garage and acquired a loaner, and everything went pretty smoothly; but it was an unforeseen hassle that impacted slightly my ability to cover the tournament, at least during its first few days.

Being that the Safeway is a three day event, they arrange the schedule as follows: Tuesday is a practice day, and Wednesday and Thursday are pro-ams days. Only half the field plays in the pro-am each day, which means I had to be there both days to ensure I would be able to see all the Sisters in action.

Wednesday
I had a few goals on Wednesday: to get pictures of the ladies practicing, to get photos of them during their pro-ams, and to arrange interviews. My plan was to interview a selective group of three players: superstar Grace Park, a 4- year pro who is still trying to find her way named Minny Yeo, and youngster Christina Kim. The LPGA representative, a fellow named Paul, helpfully accompanied me to the practice green to see if we could find any of them, but none of them were around at that time. I wasn't about to give up, though!

Later, I did run into Grace and Se Ri on the driving range. They had pro-ams at around noon, each starting from different tees (Se Ri from the tenth tee, Grace from the first). They were right next to each other belting balls. They were also attracting a lot of attention, as two different camera crews arrived to film them in action. Naturally I ambled in there and got a bunch of nice shots. Grace saw me and said 'hi'. As you would expect, they looked impressive. Se Ri in particular seemed to be trying to fix a problem with her swing. Before many of her swings, she would first practice bringing the club back until it was parallel to the ground, then would check its position. She was trying to groove a proper takeaway, I would surmise.

While Se Ri was hitting drives, between shots she was also talking to a guy I figured was a TaylorMade rep. She was asking about when her club would be ready (I'm guessing the driver?). She specifically asked about the grooves. He said they were working on it. She said she wanted to win this week. He pointed out that she had won two events with her current driver. Se Ri seemed a bit frustrated by the exchange.

The rep next asked Se Ri if she had ever won in Portland before. She replied, No, but that she was going to win this week. The rep answered that everything was set up perfectly for her: beautiful weather, challenging course, top notch field. Se Ri said, 'Yup. I'm going to win this week.' It was nice to hear that she is just as confident as ever!

Se Ri was all smiles on the range
Wednesday (click to enlarge)
SeoulSisters.com photo